Bucs defensive tackle Calijah Kancey, right, chases down Commanders quarterback Jayden Daniels during last season's wild-card game. Tampa Bay's past Super Bowl champions had a lockdown defense.
TAMPA — Todd Bowles is known as a defensive mastermind, but he’s had to think bigger the past three offseasons.
Finding an offensive coordinator who can put points on the board has used up all his free time since taking over as head coach in 2022.
From hiring Dave Canales to Liam Coen and now Josh Grizzard, Bowles has scrapped his vacation itinerary for interviews.
“This past year, both my sons got labrum surgery,” Bowles recalled. “One (defensive back Todd Jr.) was at Long Island University. He came home. But Troy (a linebacker) was at Michigan, so I’m in Michigan.
“I’m doing Zoom interviews and it’s 11 degrees outside. I’m interviewing coordinators. I’m up there for a week and a half. (Troy) can’t drive so I’m driving him to appointments. I’m doing Zooms in the training room.”
Bowles’ eye for talent can’t be questioned after his first two offensive coordinators were hired as head coaches after only one season: Canales at Carolina and Coen in Jacksonville.
Last season, the Bucs offense averaged 29.5 points per game, which ranked fourth in the NFL.
Bucs head coach Todd Bowles talks to the defense during the preseason. How can that unit improve this season? Bowles says it starts with tackling and turnovers.
But the defense? It has steadily slipped, allowing 22.6 points per game and producing only seven interceptions in 2024. Bowles knows there won’t be another Lombardi Trophy to hoist unless that side of the ball can carry its weight.
“First, we’ve got to eliminate calling me a defensive head coach,” Bowles said. “I’m a head coach. I mean, we get blamed for either side of the ball.
“The offense, they played really well last year and defensively, I don’t think we played to our standards. I don’t think we tackled well. Obviously, we didn’t get the turnovers and that eats at you as a coach. ... We have to stop making the small mistakes at the critical times and I think that’s important going into this year. I think we have a chance to be very good, (if) everybody stays healthy.”
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The Bucs are celebrating their 50th season in the NFL, and Bowles is aware of the franchise’s rich history of superior defense.
All five Tampa Bay players in the Pro Football Hall of Fame — Lee Roy Selmon, Warren Sapp, Derrick Brooks, John Lynch and Ronde Barber — played defense. Former head coach Tony Dungy, the architect of one the league’s best defensive units for a decade, has his bust in Canton, Ohio, right beside them.
Bowles was a Bucs fan of sorts growing up in Elizabeth, New Jersey, where linebacker Richard “Batman” Wood was a hometown hero. He followed every tackle and turnover, and then decades later watched Wood as defensive coordinator at Tampa Catholic High School, the rival of Jesuit, where Bowles’ sons Troy and Todd Jr. played.
Daily in training camp this summer, different legends visited the Bucs facility.
“I was a tight end in high school, so I was a big Jimmie Giles fan,” Bowles said of the Bucs Ring of Honor member. “I haven’t seen (receiver) Kevin House. He was a heckuva player back then and I haven’t seen (linebacker) Hardy Nickerson. I always thought Hardy was a very good football player. But Brooks and Barber and Sapp, I’m around all those guys. I was a big Booger (McFarland) fan as a defensive lineman. He didn’t get the credit the other guys got but he played. I really watched those guys.”
From 1977-1981, the Bucs ranked among the top-10 scoring defenses four out of five years, including second in 1977 (15.9) and first in 1979 (14.8).
What’s remarkable is the NFL changed the rules in 1978, restricting defensive backs from having contact with receivers beyond 5 yards of the line of scrimmage.
Lee Roy Selmon pressures Eagles quarterback Ron Jaworski during a Dec. 29, 1979, playoff game that the Bucs won, 24-17. The Bucs had the top-ranked scoring defense in the league that year. [ Times (1979) ]
Even so, the 1979 defense led by Selmon was the Bucs’ best scoring defense of all time.
From 1997-2007, the Bucs defense finished in the top 10 in points allowed per game; they were second in1999 and 2000, and first from 2001-2003. In fact, they did not allow more than 18.6 points per game from 1997-2006.
When Jon Gruden took over as head coach in 2002, he immediately challenged the defense to be even better by scoring. The unit responded with nine touchdowns, including three in Super Bowl 37 against Gruden’s former Raiders team.
In 2020, the Bucs were eighth in points allowed (23.3) and third in 2021 (20.8). But they have declined steadily since to 13th in 2022 (21.1), 15th in 2023 (21.6) and 16th in 2024 (22.6).
Even though Tom Brady piloted a Bruce Arians offense that was third in the NFL (averaging 30.8 points per game), the defense under Bowles was ranked eighth in scoring (23.3 ppg) and the next season improved to third (20.8 ppg) while the offense remained third (29.9 ppg).
But Arians didn’t have that revolving door at offensive coordinator.
In Bowles’ first two seasons as head coach, Byron Leftwich (18.4 ppg) and Canales (18.1) put the defense in a hole each week. While Bowles’ teams have maintained consistent sack numbers, how they have gone about getting pressure certainly has changed.
Since Bowles took over the defense, the Bucs have averaged 45.3 sacks per season. The high-water mark was 48 in 2020 when they won Super Bowl 55. The lowest was 44 in 2022 when they finished 8-9 in Bowles’ first season as head coach.
The Bucs have not had a player reach double-digit sacks since Shaquil Barrett had 10 in 2021. He set the club record and led the NFL with 19.5 sacks in 2019.
Bucs defensive tackle Vita Vea brings down Falcons quarterback Marcus Mariota on Oct. 9, 2022. Vea led the team with 6.5 sacks that season. It's been a few years since a Bucs player has had double-digit sack numbers. [ LUIS SANTANA | Times ]
Since then, the Bucs’ best pass rushers have come mostly from the defensive tackle positions. Vita Vea led the club in sacks with 6.5 in 2022. Yaya Diaby claimed the title with 7.5 as a rookie outside linebacker in 2023. Last season, Calijah Kancey, another defensive tackle, led the club with 7.5 sacks in only 12 games.
Kancey missed at least four games in each of his first two NFL seasons with calf injuries. But he made a bold prediction if he stays healthy for 17 games this season:
“I think you would be looking at the (league) sack leader.”
Just in case Kancey and Diaby struggle, the Bucs hedged their bets by signing Haason Reddick to a one-year, $14 million contract to give them a proven edge rusher. Reddick had 50.5 sacks from 2020-23 with the Cardinals, Panthers and the Eagles.
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It may take a lot of hope for the Bucs defense to rebound.
Hope for Diaby and Kancey to continue to develop. For veteran Lavonte David to squeeze out another 122-tackle season. For SirVocea Dennis to shut down passes over the middle. For Tykee Smith to successfully transition to safety. For rookie Jacob Parrish to embrace nickel safety. For Diaby to get more one-on-ones as attention is paid to Reddick. For tighter coverage with Zyon McCollum and Jamel Dean. For All-Pro safety Antoine Winfield Jr. to be the ball hawk he was in 2023 before knee and foot injuries forced him to miss eight games.
The one player Bowles says the Bucs cannot replace is Vea because of his ability to push the pocket. “We can’t play without him. If you asked me if I could lose anybody, he’d be the guy I can’t lose. I can plug in everybody else.”
Bowles said he watched every play from the 2024 season and there are subtle changes he plans to make.
“We’ve won the division, but that’s not our goal,” he said. “Our goal is to win the Super Bowl and, in that standpoint, the defense has to step up some. They played better the second half of (last) year. I’m not saying that they didn’t. But the turnovers and everything else have to come with it.”
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